- All BP measurements were performed by the same trained technician through the auscultatory method following previously described recommendations18, using a stethoscope (Duo Sonic, Brazil) and a calibrated sphygmomanometer (Missouri, São Paulo, SP, Brazil) certified by Inmetro (National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology). Measurements were taken at the left arm with the individual comfortably seated in a calm and controlled room temperature at 25o C. The auscultatory procedures were ensured against an automated and previously validated19 oscillometric method (Microlife, BP 3AC1-1, USA). Briefly, 30 independent individuals (another sample of individuals) of both genders rested for ten minutes and had BP randomly measured through both auscultatory and oscilometric methods, being the last blinded conducted by another evaluator. Correlations between methods were r=0.90 (p<0.001) for systolic blood pressure (SBP) and r=0.80 (p<0.001) for diastolic blood pressure (DBP). Also, agreement between methods was examined using the Bland & Altman20 procedure. Mean differences were 3.9 mmHg [20.2/-12.4 mmHg] and -3.4 mmHg [10.5/-17.3 mmHg] for SBP and DBP, respectively.